does skipping carbs before exercise help?

[Semidevil]

I'm able to workout in the morning now and I always have a eggs an oatmeal for breakfast a couple hours before my weightlifting session.

just reading around the net, there are some dated articles suggesting to skip carbs before the workout. The reason is that if you eat carbs, your body will use the carbs as energy. However, if you dont eat the carbs, the body will use the fat storage as energy instead. Which means, I should eat it post workout.

Does this mean I should eat my oatmeal after my workout?

Is this a valid point? the things I see on the internet are not recent, so I wanted to see what you guys thought.

 

[surfsatwerk]

In the grand scheme of things it could matter in some minor way, but matters most is what do you prefer? I can't stand to do anything physical with food in my belly. My Saturday workout occurs at 9am and it is usually at least 12hrs since I last ate. Never had an issue with fatigue from not eating.

And for weight loss purposes the only thing that seems to matter for me is total calories consumed and the proportion of fats/carbs/protein I eat. When I consume them has never seemed to matter much.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I'll comment more on this later, but it matters that you eat some carbs much more with things that get your heart rate up for a prolonged period of time (cardio, intervals, circuit training). If you're just lifting, you will require much less carbohydrate and can probably get by without it. However, some people feel bad when they don't eat, which can be psychological, but definitely affect your workouts.

 

[jaedaliu]

I agree with the other posts. How you feel should dictate when you eat. Your breakfast sounds quite healthy. Motivation can be more difficult for some people if they don't eat anything. Low blood sugar can be a signal to your brain to give up.

 

[Zivic]

everyone is different so do what works best for you.

for me, I have to have at least one meal in me before lifting. usually two. No way could I lift on an empty stomach.

for cardio, I am doing 25-35 minute sessions and I try to do them on as empty of a stomach as possible. this can become challenging as I try to do them towards the end of the day after weight training. If I don't weight train, I will do a session in the morning before eating, maybe a small protein shake if I am really feeling I need something

 

[mple]

The psychological component is big. For me, a full night of rest before lifting makes a significantly bigger difference than going in on an empty stomach. Many of my PR's come after 12+ hours of fasting, but generally I consume 100-400 calories 2 hours before lifting and my stomach is mostly empty by the time I hit the gym.

Some of the worst workouts I have are when I eat a full meal < 2 hour before lifting.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=123915821

 

[_Rick_]

The worst thing I ever did sports-wise, was get on my bike, after eating only a single cereal bar. That bar was heavy in my stomach for the first hour, so I felt quite bad, and not at all comfortable, and then on the return leg, I ran out of steam, in disastrous fashion. My body went into full starvation, and the only thing that actually kept me going to get home, was the fact, that I had food there.
Since then I always pack a gel, for such emergencies, and I always try to finish carb loading about 2 hours before heading out.

So, if you do any kind of endurance based work out (i.e. cardio), make sure to get those carbs in. If you don't you will hit that terrible cliff, and form my experience, I'd say it's dangerous. Even if you don't pass out, you do lose focus, so any activity that requires coordination is going to become dangerous.

Of course, if you only work out for 30 minutes, it doesn't matter as long as you're not completely starved, or just finished a big meal...

 

[The Sauce]

I have been working out fasing lately - like 36 hours straight. It was the exact opposite of everything I had been taught previously. It took about a week to adapt but now my fasting workouts are amazing. Don't buy into dogma. Try out everything and see for yourself. Just remember that when you make a change like that it takes a little while for your body to adapt.

 

[darkxshade]

I've done both and I prefer not eating before. I also train in a fasted state and it's definitely more difficult. As far as weight loss it really doesn't make much of a difference either way IMO. I only do it under 2 assumptions and I call it assumptions because it may not be true(I don't keep track of the progress comparing the 2 but this seems to work great for me). The first being that I like to train under the least optimal level to gain strength and endurance at my lower limits. This is so that when I apply my physicality under real world scenarios, I know my limits under worst case. For example, when I trained for a marathon, I had ran 15-20 miles on an empty stomach(fasted since dinner the night before) every other week. And let me say the weeks in between when I do my long runs on carbs was a breeze. The second reason has to do with insulin resistance and fat burning for stubborn fat(alpha receptors?)

 

[MiniDoom]

I've been on about 20g carbs a day since new years and after you get past the first week and initial shock of not having carbs, it's not so bad. I feel normal and can workout just fine. On the bike when I'm doing sprint intervals my power is down only about 3-5%. not a big deal.

 

[destey]

The main thing is insulin inhibits fat burning and puts the body in "rebuilding mode." Which isn't optimal for working out. The oatmeal is a long chain glucose and will break down slowly, leaving insulin levels slightly elevated until meal is completely digested.

I've read a lot about consuming protein pre-workout (or BCAAs) and eating carbs, and from my personal experience, workouts go much better with a meal 2 hours + away from the workout. I get a sick feeling when I play basketball and the meal isn't completely gone (I always start my weight lifting with 5-10 minute of basketball). I also don't have quite the performance.